Of Pink Pancakes and Love Letters
by PaperRebellion
Summary: Nora had finally summed up the courage to confess her feelings for Ren! It goes fantastic, until Ren responds with...well, not the worst way it could have gone. With an argument breaking out over the ordeal, teams are split, and nobody has any (100% thought out) ideas on how to rectify the situation.
1. Does This Count As Rejection?

**Author's Note: This doesn't really have a canon set time, but it takes place after Volume 3 in an AU where the Fall of Beacon never happened. Everything's fiiiiiiiine. Also, the reason this isn't in which my oneshot/drabble collection for Renora ("Boop!") is because this is significantly longer than those, and because I'm planning to start posting more Renora stories around this size.**

**Chapter 1: Does This Count As Rejection?**

* * *

The day had been relatively normal for Lie Ren, right up until his childhood best friend asked him out.

She had been nervous, understandably, and he had not made it better. He didn't reject her, that much was certain. But apparently the response he gave was not the ideal.

_**10:00 am, Saturday**_

The kitchen at the end of the hallway, next to the floor's student lounge, was essentially JNPR territory. Ren and Pyrrha were among the few students on the floor who knew how to cook, and most of the others on the floor preferred to visit vending machines for snacks and the cafeteria for meals- whereas Team JNPR (and sometimes RWBY if they were in the mood for pancakes) generally ate breakfast in the student kitchen and would occasionally eat lunch in there as well.

Even so, the kitchen was JNPR territory but only two of them cooked on a regular basis, so the current situation was new to them.

"Nora, why did you make these?" Ren picked up one of the few pancakes she hadn't haphazardly poured syrup on yet.

"I just felt like making something," she said quickly. The ginger was crouched over a plate of pancakes, around half of which were splotched with pink.

"You don't cook."

Nora scoffed, "It's not that I don't want to-" "You just can't." Ren finished. Seven members of the RWBY/JNPR alliance likely still had war flashbacks as a result of Nora's last attempt to make food. "But Pyrrha helped me this time!" she smiled. The dark haired boy sighed deeply and set down the lone pancake.

He faced her with a neutral expression, "You know the cafeteria has pancakes, and vending machines around campus certainly have similar things as far as sugar content goes."

She put down the bowl of pink batter and pointed the spatula at him accusingly, "You weren't listening, silly!" she gave a small "hmph!" and wagged the spatula, "I wanted to make something!" She went back to smiling as she set the pink batter aside, and stood on her tip toes to reach more red food coloring.

Ren gave a small smile, "Alright then." He had long since learned that if she was doing something that wasn't destructive, no matter how strange, it was just easier to go along with her randomness. He hadn't even bothered to ask why she was making so many or why they were pink. He reached over her and effortlessly grabbed the food coloring, handing it to the short girl. "Would you like help putting more of these on the stove?"

Immediately, she dropped the food coloring in the bowl, "Uh, no, I'm doing fine." She recovered.

He cocked a brow, "It's just batter, Nora, if you want help I can-"

"Nope!" she said, hastily mixing spilt red food coloring with more batter.

Confused, Ren asked anyway, "Would you like company then?"

"No, you can go back to whatever you were doing before this if- if you want."

He stared at her for a moment, blinking, "What?"

"I can do this by myself," She smiled uneasily. Strange, he thought. She's never shooed him away, she never cooks...today was full of firsts, he guessed.

Ren blinked again, "...Alright," He got up slowly, and walked back to the dorm at the end of the hallway as Nora cleaned batter off the food coloring bottle.

**_10:37 am, Saturday_**

"What the-" Ren was interrupted in his quiet reading as Nora set a pancake down on top of his book.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully, not making any move to explain. He looked up at her, utterly perplexed, "Thank… you?"

She waited expectantly, beaming with her hands clasped together. Ren glanced back and forth, looking at Jaune, not paying any mind as he played on his scroll, and then to Pyrrha, who looked nearly as excited as Nora at the scene unfolding. He held it like a taco and took a bite, wondering if that was what Nora was waiting for.

"Do you like it?" she asked, and though her tone was cheerful, her voice wavered in the middle of asking.

Ren merely nodded and asked, "Are you okay?"

The next moment was a complete blur of confusion after confusion, as Nora blurted, "Oh, I'm so glad you like it, Pyrrha said cooking was a good idea as a way to ask you out, since you like cooking and I thought it was awesome to make pan-"

Ren almost choked, "Wait what-? What do you mean 'ask me out'?"

Nora stopped dead in her tracks, "Oh, um… Will you go out with me?"

Ren's eyes were wide, "What do you mean?"

Nora stammered as Pyrrha shot her a thumbs up to show her encouragement, "Like…dating. Do you maybe wanna start dating? If- if you don't wanna we can forget this happened and...and…" she trailed off.

Ren's eyes were wide, and gave her a look as though he'd just realized he'd left the oven on, "Oh."

Nora took a shaky breath and let out a small laugh with no humor in it, "Uh, what- what does 'oh' mean?"

"I thought we were already a couple."


	2. How Not To React

**Chapter Two: How Not To React**

* * *

**_10:39 am, Saturday_**

Nora froze, looking like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"...What?"

Slowly, the shock drained out of her and was replaced by what looked like a tranquil fury- by far the most worrying of Nora's expressions. Her eyes narrowed, "_What_?"

Ren froze a moment, electing not to say anything. The room was deadly still, with both Pyrrha and Jaune's eyes transfixed on the pair. One would think some small part of Nora would at least be minorly happy to hear this...but then again… that small part was buried _deep_ under the rest of her, that had spent years agonizing over whether or not to tell him how she felt.

"Since when were we a couple?" Nora asked, with the same very dangerous tone.

Ren stood up tentatively, "Since when were we not a couple?"

"I don't remember you objecting last time I corrected someone who said we were." Her eyes, always a vibrant shade of teal, looked more icy than electric at the moment.

"That was several months ago and I just assumed it had… happened."

"So we somehow started dating?"

"Well-"

"Neither of us ever asked each other!" The electricity was back in Nora's gaze, and while normally Ren didn't have to worry about the static, he was more convinced that it was closer to sheet lightning at the moment.

He took on a more stern tone, "Nora I didn't-"

"Do you know how long I've been worried about this?" Nora laughed a little, sounding a little manic.

It was common knowledge she laughed in every situation. Though it was equally common knowledge that she had different laughs for different emotions. This one sounded angry.

This time, Ren didn't even get a word out before she continued.

"I've been dreading this for years, finally telling you how I feel, because I thought it was a friendship breaker but I guess NOT if we somehow just became together-together!"

"I didn't think of it like tha- wait, _years_?"

"Yes, _years_, I've known it wasn't platonic since we were, like, 10!"

Ren stumbled over his words, "I didn't think it was such a big deal-" He cut himself off, "I did not mean it like that and you know it-"

Nora let out a sound halfway between a shriek and a groan, "You know what, forget it! I was scared over _nothing_ apparently, because I guess it wasn't as big a deal as I thought!" She whipped around, slamming the door so hard that dust flew off of the doorway and the sound thundered through the hallway.

That small happy part was _definitely_ buried.

**_10:45 am, Saturday_**

"Come in." Jaune sighed.

Ruby poked her head in the doorway, "Umm… why did Nora just drag Yang down to the training room? She said she wanted to," Ruby made airquotes, "Punch her boy problems."

Ren sighed deeply sitting on his bed with his face in his hands.

Jaune shrugged, "Nora thought she and Ren were just friends."

Pyrrha glanced over, "Well, they are. Nobody ever said anything otherwise."

Jaune cocked a brow, "Pyrrha, have you seen how they act? How could someone not notice when someone else is clearly in love with them?"

The look on Pyrrha's face could make an icecap melt.

"I don't know Jaune, why don't you think about it?" Pyrrha said coolly, "while I go find Yang and Nora." She left the room with her face nearly as red as her hair.

"Uhhh…" Ruby trailed off, "So…"

"What's up with her?" Jaune asked, earning a glare from Ren and Ruby.


	3. Picking Sides

**_Chapter Three: Picking Sides_**

* * *

**_10:50 am, Saturday_**

"I… hate… _everything_!" Nora said in between swings. The punching bag made satisfying slap noises as Nora hit it, but it was doing nothing to help reduce her anger.

Yang let go of the bag, letting it slump in midair. "At this rate, you're gonna break the bag."

Nora's protests simply died in her throat, utterly slaughtered by her anger, "I just- UGH!" She struck again, and Pyrrha narrowly avoided being hit by the bag as it blew backwards. "I can't believe this! I can't believe Ren!"

Pyrrha cringed, "Perhaps a more _peaceful_ way of letting out your frustratio-"

Yang cut her off, "You know, Ren kind of had a point."

And for the second time that day, the room went deathly silent.

"Um, Yang-" Pyrrha started.

Yang had to duck quickly, almost being hit in the face by a boxing glove that had been pelted across the room.

"We weren't together-together!"

Yang set her hands on her hips, "Well… you kind of acted like it."

"How?"

Pyrrha waved her hands around, "Yang, maybe-"

"You guys are constantly flirting.." the blonde laughed and shrugged, "You guys are basically an old married couple."

She didn't have time to dodge the second boxing glove, which landed with a loud smack as it made contact with Yang's shoulder.

"We don't flirt!"

"Uh huh, and Blake hates reading," Yang scoffed, rubbing her shoulder, "Why aren't you just happy that you're a couple?"

Nora growled, gesticulating wildly, "Because we aren't!"

"Ren thinks you are, and you want to be, so just go with it." Yang smiled.

Pyrrha sighed, coming between the two, "It's not that simple. For one, the fact that Ren thought they were together makes it look like the nonexistent transition from friends to dating-"

"Together-together." Nora interrupted.

"Right, sorry. It makes it look like Ren doesn't take it as seriously as Nora does." Pyrrha finished.

Violet eyes looked at green in disbelief, "So...you… don't think they act like a couple?"

"How I think they act is irrelevant," Pyrrha said, a soothingly cheerful lilt in her voice, "What matters is that neither of them agreed they were together-together. You can't be a couple without both parties acknowledging that they're a couple."

Nora let out a small hmph, leaning over, "Thank you!"

Yang shook her head, "You have to be the only two people in this entire school who didn't see it." she turned and started walking off, "Why don't you ask everyone else? There's no way they don't agree with me." she called.

**_11:08 am, Saturday_**

"What do you mean you don't agree with me?" Yang asked Weiss accusingly.

Weiss sighed dramatically, closing the textbook she was trying to study, "Did Ren or Nora ever ask the other on a date before today?"

Yang opened her mouth, only for Weiss to cut her off, "Then they weren't dating. There needs to be a _formal_ agreement."

Yang scoffed, "What, did they need to sign a contract, too?"

Weiss shook her head, "No, a verbal agreement is generally enough." She said seriously.

Yang gave her a light glare, "I was being sarcastic."

"I know, but you shouldn't ask questions if you don't want answers." The girl replied haughtily.

Yang glared at Weiss, "Why in Remnant would you think that they have to formally agree to anything?"

Weiss rolled her icy blue eyes, "Well, they don't just automatically know what the other is thinking."

"Weiss, that's, like, literally their _thing_." Yang sighed, "They're like _fax machines_."

"Fax machines or not, they're clearly _both_ confused about what's happening. I'm still _struggling_ to understand why you came to me about this."

Yang grimaced, "Fine, then, go tell Nora you're on her side."

"I will do no such thing. You act like I want to get involved in this stupid disagreement."

The blonde crossed her arms, "It's not that stupid."

* * *

**_11:23 am, Saturday_**

"This is such a stupid disagreement." Ren grumbled, face in his hands.

Jaune sighed, "Well, her problem was that neither of you technically asked the other, right? So maybe you ask her, it'll cancel that out."

Ren looked up at him, voice monotone, "You're right. I'm sure she'd _adore_ it if I called her right now."

Jaune shook his head, "No, don't _call_ her. She asked you with pancakes, right? Well, one up her! Do something romantic."

"No offense intended, but your track record with girls isn't the best and I am _incredibly _wary about taking your advice."

"Some offense taken, and I know that, but Nora and Weiss are two very different people! Nora would probably like romantic gestures. Besides, my track record isn't _great_ but at least I didn't ever say 'I thought we were already dating'."

"Point taken, but how was I to know that wasn't an appropriate response?"

"Common sense?"

"Touché," Ren admitted, "though I hope you know I'm not learning guitar."

Jaune sighed, "What about something more classic?"

Ren narrowed his eyes, "I don't know whether or not I like where you're going with this."

Jaune lit up, "You could write a love letter!"

Ren considered for a moment. "It's not like I've got any other ideas… wait."

"Yeah?"

"...How do you write a love letter?"


	4. Nobody Knows What The Heck They're Doing

**Author's Note: For some reason the DocX changes aren't saving at all, so I'm reuploading the edited version of the edited version of this freaking chapter. Not much changed, but there's an extra segment in Jaune and Ren's conversation, and some basic formatting fixes. Apologies for anyone who read the unrevised version(s) first, screws me over sometimes. We're gonna keep publishing this until it finally works.**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Nobody Knows What The Heck They're Doing**

* * *

**_11:39 am, Saturday_**

"Uh…" Jaune scratched the back of his head, "That's an excellent question."

Ren gave a small groan, slumping in the chair, "So, what's Plan B?"

Jaune lit up with an idea, "We don't need one!" He pulled out his scroll, "We'll look it up."

"Ah yes, the pinnacle of romance: Online guides." Ren deadpanned.

"Hey, you said yourself you don't have any better ideas."

The dark-haired boy sighed, "Fine." He sat down at the desk in the corner of the room, pulling out a blue pen and a sheet of lined paper.

"Step One!" Jaune read, "State the purpose of your letter."

"To ask her out ...Even though she already asked me out ...And I thought we were already dating..."

"Maybe leave off the last two things?" Jaune offered, "And start with something... corny. Romantic."

Ren put pen to paper, "Like?"

"Uh… your eyes look like the ocean and your hair-"

"You've used that exact same line on Weiss. Besides, Nora's eyes are greener than the ocean."

"They're more blue than green."

"They're teal," Ren supplied, "And they change depending on lighting."

"Her eyes look kinda icy near the bottoms-"

"Nora's eyes are electric blue, with green flecks in the lighter bits. Can we get back to the letter now?"

"Fine then," Jaune said, "Just go 'Dear Nora'-"

"Maybe just Nora-"

"Do you want help or not?" Jaune snapped. Ren glared and started writing.

"Fine. 'Dear Nora, I would like to date you.'"

Jaune slowly clapped, "Ten out of ten. Great hook sentence."

Ren shot him a look, "I reiterate that I've never done this."

"Well... let's jump to step two and come back to step one later." Jaune sighed.

* * *

**_11:45 am, Saturday_**

The group of girls was gathered around a table in the library, brainstorming up solutions.

"Alright," Ruby said, pencil poised over the notebook paper, "When Ren thought you were already dating, how did that make you feel?"

Nora clenched her fists, "Like I wanted to shatter someone's kneecaps." She was lying face up on three chairs that had been pushed together.

Ruby nodded, writing while mouthing the words "_slightly frustrated_". "And how did you feel after talking to Yang?"

"Like I wanted to shatter Yang's kneecaps."

Ruby once again gave a nod, scribbling "_feelings hurt, a little upset_". "And how do you think we should remedy the problem?"

"I should shatter someone's kneecaps." Nora mused, considering the option seriously.

Ruby wrote that down, "I can't guarantee how well that would solve the Ren problem."

Nora sighed, "I guess not."

"_Of course_ not." Weiss said, sitting straight in a chair across from Ruby, "The only way to resolve this is with both sides agreeing on whether or not to proceed as a couple."

"Together-together." Nora mumbled pointedly.

"Well," Pyrrha spoke, "At least we know, if he thought you were already together-together for this long, he's certainly fine with it." Nora worked herself into a sitting position, across from Pyrrha.

"Not true." Weiss crossed her arms, "If this is his idea of being a romantic couple, and Nora clearly thinks there's more to add, then he may not want to go any further."

Nora groaned. "And that means-"

"If their current relationship is his idea of romance, then romance must be truly dead." Weiss snarked.

Nora sunk, planting her head on the table with a groan.


	5. Works Great In Theory

**Author's Note:**

**1: I'm hoping this chapter uploads smoother than 4 did, but if not, I'm sorry for the half hour it will take to set right. Just know if the time isn't in italics, then this isn't the finished product.**

**2: Also, thanks to everyone who's already favorited/followed! It means a lot to me, and also, a special shout out to "RightHandOfPalpatine", who's username made this Mara Jade fangirl squeal on the inside. I should really reread the Zahn trilogy.**

**3: This chapter is short compared to the others, and if I'm being honest, it's because I didn't plan it out at all beforehand and want to get to writing the rest of the story. Probably only a few chapters left to be honest.**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Works Great In Theory**

* * *

**_11:47 am, Saturday_**

"Step Two: Recall a romantic memory or the first time you met." Jaune set the scroll down on the desk, leaning on the wood.

Ren looked up at him, wary, "Perhaps we should leave out our first meeting in a letter designed to make her _happy_."

Jaune made a face but didn't ask questions, "Oookay then. Step Three: Transition into a section about everything you like about her."The blond's expression shifted into a smile, thinking this next step would definitely be the easiest.

Ren looked down at the paper, disappointed, "Jaune, I only have one sheet of paper."

"Yeah, so?"

Ren sighed, "Well, I'm going to need _more_."

Jaune nodded, "Then just summarize everything you like about her."

"That would _still_ require more paper and I don't want to be writing for that long."

Jaune considered this for a moment, "Maybe just bullet point some things?"he offered.

"That works." Ren made several dots on the page, "Alright… um… She's always fun to be around."

"Great. And?"

"Um... she..." Ren trailed off, eyes a little wider.

"You can't think of anything else, can you?"

"Well, I can _think_ of a couple hundred things," Ren said, "But I've never had to verbalise them."

"Just say it as basic as possible."

"She likes people and that works well for me in social situations," Ren supplied.

"Go on."

"She talks often and I enjoy listening to her."

"That's cute."

"Well, generally, it's how relationships work."

"Anything else?" Jaune prodded.

"This is dumb."

"I didn't mean complaints, and you were the one who wanted to do this!"

"You were the one who came up with this."

Jaune sighed, scrolling down, "Step Four: Tell her how your life has changed since meeting her."

"Uhh… it.. got.. better?" Ren offered.

"That would work. I think the guide meant specifics though."

Ren deadpanned, "I thought we've established I'm not good at those."

"Oh, absolutely terrible. Step Five!" Jaune exclaimed tiredly, "Reaffirm your love and commitment."

"We have two sentences and some vague bullet points." Ren scoffed lightly, setting the pen down, "I don't think there's enough to reaffirm _anything_."

"We got absolutely nowhere."

"Uh huh."

"Plan B is just talking to her, I guess."

"I feel like Plan B is going to go even worse than Plan A did."

"Well, I mean you can't do much worse than an empty page." Jaune advised.

"I think this morning proved I most certainly can," Ren stood and walked over to his bed, all but collapsing on it, "But you're right. Could be worse. Could have told her _I thought we were already dating._" He said, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

"Plan C?"

"Plan C."


	6. Clearly, The World Is Ending

**Author's Note: I never expected so many people to like this story! It's been so long since I've regularly written but I'm so motivated now! It's nice to know that the community is still, for the most part, incredibly kind! Just knowing I'm making people laugh gets me so hyped to write! So far, this has been the only chapter I struggled writing, mostly because I just didn't plan it out in advance and decided to come back to it later… 3 months ago… yup.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Clearly, The World Is Ending**

* * *

**_7:02 pm, Saturday_**

Jaune considered many things in this world to be absolute, as most people do. The sky was blue, forests had trees in them, etc. Among these absolutes was that Nora Valkyrie talked. A lot. She liked to talk, she was talkative, she would always talk until the end of time.

This train of thought meant it was a given that when Nora arrived back at the dorm for curfew, she would talk. To Ren, to Jaune, to Pyrrha, to everyone, to no one, to herself- she'd be talking.

So when everyone came back into the dorm and Nora didn't say a single word as she got ready for bed, Jaune felt like a universal law had been broken.

"Hey, Nora! Whatcha doin?" He asked, using the most chipper voice he could manage.

Nora looked up from the small coloring book she was holding, gestured to the colored pencils, and then went back to work. Silently. _Nora Valkyrie_ was coloring _silently_.

Nora Valkyrie... silently...

"Nora Valkyrie" and "Silent" did not ever belong in the same sentence, unless that sentence was "Nora Valkyrie is never silent".

Jaune buffered, "What are you coloring?" He asked after a moment of awkward quiet.

Nora didn't even look up at him, she just flipped the book around to show him for a second and then resumed.

Jaune's eyes widened. The blond felt, to put it lightly, as though his view of the universe and it's unspoken laws had just shattered into trillions of teeny tiny pieces. Clearly, _the world was e__nding_.

"I… okay…" he stuttered, walking over to his own bed and sitting down, looking incredibly shaken.

Pyrrha, for her part, was trying her darndest not to panic.

Nora being grumpy? It would be fine.

Nora wanted to shatter kneecaps, break legs, and fracture fibulas? An occurrence just as normal as the name "Steve".

Ren and Nora having a fight? Rare, but not unheard of.

Nora not talking, refusing to so much as _look_ at Ren (currently at the desk because he feared that if he sat in his bed, he'd make accidental eye contact with Nora), however?

This worried Pyrrha. Immensely. She had to do something. Jaune wasn't even functioning at the moment, but she didn't necessarily need the team leader, did she? After all, Jaune may be their team leader, but being the team mom trumps any true position automatically, doesn't it?

"Hello, Ren!" Pyrrha smiled, standing over the dark-haired boy's shoulder as he put a pencil down frustratedly. "Whatcha doing?"

He merely sighed, looking up from what little writing he had, "Nothing important."

Pyrrha glanced at the paper, seeing nothing but a few vague bullet points. "Well," she started, "If you aren't super busy, could we go for a walk?"

Both Jaune and Nora's heads snapped up. Pyrrha and Ren didn't take walks. Ren and Nora took walks. Jaune and Pyrrha took walks. Pyrrha and Nora took walks. Jaune and Ren took walks.

_Ren_ and _Pyrrha_ did _not_ take walks.

Nora turned red, automatically put on alert. Her mind raced with about ten million possibilities.

Was Pyrrha going to yell at Ren? Were Ren and Pyrrha going to be abducted by aliens? Was Ren going to convince Pyrrha he was right in the argument? Was Pyrrha completely _shattering_ the "bro code" and making moves on Ren? Was Ren going to befriend Pyrrha and _replace_ Nora over this dumb fight? The world would definitely end if that ever happened.

Nora was uncertain as to whether it would end figuratively, or if out of anger, she'd simply decide to smash the world into pieces.

Nora was already wondering if fibulas needed to be fractured. Because clearly, _the world was ending._


	7. No Problem With It

**Author's Note: Right, I'm not even going to try to make excuses for how unprofessional it is to delete entire chapters and replace them with something completely different. But I will make excuses for how cringe the first version of this was. I fell asleep twice while writing and just decided to post it. I woke up and I was like, "Oh gosh how bad is it?" Very. It was very bad. Only about 7 lines had any relevance to the plot.**

**The conversation was originally going to last 5-7 paragraphs at most and then they'd go back to the dorm… and the latest version had only a few snippets of the conversation and then flashed back to Nora and Jaune… what the heck did me @ 11 pm do??? It's like I took every single idea I ever had for the chapter and combined it into one single conversation- only 1/4th of which was in my final planning sheet.**

***sigh* I'm very sorry to anyone who read that last version of this chapter. It… was something. And I'm very sorry that I posted it in the first place tbh. Trust me, I am already dying of embarrassment. In order to replace whatever the heck *that* was as quickly as possible, I speed wrote most of this, but trust me...**

**It's better than the original no matter what.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: No Problem With It**

* * *

**_7:05 pm, Saturday_**

Curfew forbade students from leaving the dormitory building after 7, though they were still allowed to wander the building until 8. This meant that any team not in their room would generally either be in the kitchen or taking a shower, though some teams would simply take walks through the halls.

In the case of JNPR, Pyrrha and Jaune often "went on walks" (read: trained on the roof), teammates of the same sex went to the showers together and amble around afterwards, and Ren and Nora often took strolls when she had too much energy to start winding down.

Though Ren enjoyed Pyrrha's company and vice versa, neither actively sought it out. Most of their time spent without their teammates was in the early morning. On the few days a week that RWBY didn't eat in the cafeteria, Ren got up before Nora to have enough time to make breakfast for both teams. Ren rising early coincided with Pyrrha returning from a morning run, and she'd always sit down and rest before Nora got up to go to the showers with her.

Sometimes they talked, but both of them were usually too tired to do more than sit in comfortable silence with an occasional few remarks peppered in. Aside from that, all of their interactions involved their partners.

Which meant that this was completely foreign to both parties.

"So," Pyrrha started, a moment after Ren closed the door behind them, "How are you doing?"

Ren took on the familiar deadpan expression he so often did, "Well, my best friend won't speak to me, my entire friend group is divided because of this, and I've got no idea how to remedy any of it."

"All in all, I'd say I'm doing pretty terribly, thanks. And you?" He asked casually.

Pyrrha nodded, a little worried, "... just lovely, thank you for asking." She awkwardly crossed her arms as they meandered through the empty hallway, "So, what were you writing?" She queried, pivoting back to the task at hand.

* * *

**_7:10, Saturday_**

"-really isn't a lot we could do to get any closer. I guess Ren kind of has a point." Nora said dejectedly.

Jaune leaned forward in his bed, "Well yeah, but you wanted some kind of agreement, right? Like, someone asks the other."

Nora nodded, "It's not completely that, Weiss was more upset about that than I am." She giggled, "But I dunno…" she trailed off.

"What _were_ you mad about?"

She set her coloring book down on her nightstand, "I guess whenever I think 'romance' I think of, like… kissing…" she sighed, "Actually _saying_ 'I love you'." she added pointedly.

Jaune looked like a lost puppy, "Don't you do that already?"

* * *

**_7:13 pm, Saturday_**

Ren shrugged, though Pyrrha noticed his stance ever so slightly clam up. She wondered absently what it meant.Was he embarrassed? Angry?

It was moments like these she applauded Nora for somehow being able to decipher every single expression, every slight change in posture or eye contact that held a different meaning.

"Was it an important list?" Pyrrha asked, "I saw bullet points."

Ren sighed, "It wasn't that important," he said vaguely. He started considering his options, realizing there was no harm in telling Pyrrha. She'd never tell Nora about this, not when Ren and Nora had been so dutifully keeping Pyrrha's infatuation with Jaune a secret.

"It was just an idea Jaune came up with, to, well, ask Nora if her offer from this morning still stands… Love letter." Ren huffed a little, remembering how poorly it was turning out.

Pyrrha smiled, "Aw. That sounds sweet."

* * *

**_7:13 pm, Saturday_**

Nora went completely pale, "What?"

"The booping thing." Jaune said, confused, "Doesn't that mean 'I love you'?"

"_How_ do you know about that?!" Nora stood up, face going from white to red in seconds.

He then remembered in that instant that Pyrrha had told him not to tell anyone.

"Um… whaaaat…?" Jaune asked, about two octaves higher than his usual voice, "I just took a wild guess…"

* * *

**_7:15 pm, Saturday_**

She paused walking and turned to him, "So, you _are_ interested in being an actual couple?"

Ren stopped alongside her. He shifted his weight. "Well… yes. It's not like anything's going to change that much."

Pyrrha let out a laugh, "I suppose that's true." At least Nora didn't need to worry about things being at all one sided, though that already seemed like a foregone conclusion. "I guess all that would change was how intimate you two are."

Ren's demeanor changed. It was Ren, and therefore the shift wasn't that obvious, but the concern was still evident. "What do you mean?"

Pyrrha panicked internally, blanching for a moment. "Well, if you guys became a pair, you'd be more... affectionate, right?"

He frowned, head tilted. "I don't see how we could get any more close than we already are-" His frown morphed into a shocked expression, "I mean- I guess, but we're, um… We'd probably wait a while to..er…"

Pyrrha saw how red his face was becoming and actually did panic this time, "No, no, not like… that… I meant like… hand holding. Kissing." She explained.

* * *

**_7:19 pm, Saturday_**

The ginger's jaw clenched, "How long have you known about…!?" she sat down, putting her face in her hands, "Nobody told Ren about it, right?"

"No, no!" Jaune said frantically, "And even if someone did, it's not like it's embarrassing or anything."

"Him finding out is actually literally the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to me and I would probably just die if it did, but sure."

Jaune put his hands on his hips, "That seems a _little_ dramatic."

Nora sat up, face reddening, "I am the _least_ dramatic person on the face of this _entire planet_!!"

Jaune laughed, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. He leaned back against his headboard, "So, you'd be fine with nobody asking anything?"

Nora raised an eyebrow, sitting back on her bed.

"Like, if Ren literally just walked up and kiss you, you wouldn't care about the whole 'formal agreement' thing?"

* * *

**_7:23 pm, Saturday _**

Ren visibly calmed, but the blush lingered and the scowl was back, "Oh…" he shifted his weight and mumbled, "I certainly don't have a _problem_ with it."

* * *

**_7:23 pm, Saturday_**

Nora blushed and got what looked like the dumbest grin ever on her face, "I mean…" she pressed her lips into a thin line in an attempt to hide her smile, "I wouldn't have a problem with it~"


	8. When You Can't Make Any Moves

**Author's Note: You read that right, y'all. I'M BACK! I really hope you like this chapter. It's not as comedic as the others, this chapter is honestly filler compared to what just happened and what's about to, but it's still my jump back into this and I like the way it turned out. If you want a bit of a longer explanation on why this took so long to finish, I've got another note towards the end. Like always, thank you so much for the kind reviews. They're literally 80% of the reason I've been trying so hard to get back into writing this story.**

**Btw, if you've ever reviewed one of my stories, you may know I make a point to PM my thanks/response to specific comments, but people haven't been answering recently and I just want to verify that people have been getting my messages. If you've reviewed (while logged in) and haven't gotten a PM, please feel free to message me!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: When You Can't Make Any Moves**

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:38 am_**

For the second consecutive day in more than a decade, Ren woke up by himself; Nora's bed was empty, the sheets haphazardly flung across the side. As his magenta gaze panned over the room, he realized Pyrrha's bed was empty as well, though her bed was admittedly much more organized.

Jaune sat by himself in the corner, tapping on his scroll. Ren allowed himself a moment of silent disappointment at Nora's absence before sitting up.

"C'mon, pick up, pick up, _pick up_…" Jaune grumbled, groaning quietly when the call went to voicemail.

"Who are you calling?" The bed springs groaned a little as Ren stretched.

"Pyrrha. She and Nora aren't picking up, and I really can't tell if they're both busy or both ignoring me." Jaune closed the scroll, agitatedly, and shoved it into his pocket.

"In Nora's case I'd say it's the latter, but if they're both gone, they're likely out together." Ren slid out from under the covers and made his way to the closet.

"Yeah, I know, but I really need to talk to Nora." Jaune set his arms on his hips and looked a little forlornly at the floor.

Ren paused in his stride. "Oh?"

"Yeah, we had a chat last night about the whole, erm, _situation_ and I wanted to follow it up, but she went to bed immediately when you and Pyrrha got back," he paused, sighing, "and both of them were gone when I got up."

Ren felt his calm expression waver, though he forced his voice to be nonchalant as he looked through hangers. "What did she say?"

"Huh? Oh, just stuff about how she'd be fine if you just walked up and-" Jaune cut himself off.

The blond wanted this whole thing to end, and maybe Nora would have even ended up thanking him for giving Ren a push, but telling him exactly what had been said seemed like it'd be a little too honest. "Nothing important."

Ren's eyebrow was raised, "Walked up and…?"

Jaune swallowed, "I said it was nothing important."

Ren crossed his arms, "If it's not important, then you shouldn't have a problem telling me."

The blond inwardly cursed himself. He may not be as much of a bumbling dork as he was during initiation… but he had a long way to go before reaching a point where he could say "_Smooth__ move, Jaune_." out of anything but sarcasm.

So he simply bit the bullet. "Ren, my best friend, my trusted comrade, the brother I never had?" he asked, voice getting progressively higher.

"Yes?"

"How would you feel if Nora kissed you?"

Immediately, Ren coughed and shifted his stance, "Um… what?"

"How would you feel if Nora kissed you?" Jaune repeated, cringing a little. If Ren replied with anything not in the vein of "I'd be happy with that", Nora would be getting a lot of sympathy looks in the next few days.

After the initial shock of the question wore off, Ren just shook his head exasperatedly. "What is it with you and Pyrrha? Both of you have asked me virtually the same question in less than half a day." He sighed, "I… wouldn't have a problem with it. I'd probably enjoy it." He admitted uneasily. He'd had almost as many personal conversations in 24 hours as he'd had in the decade before that.

"Oh." Jaune said. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "OH!" This whole thing could be over! It could be over so fast!

"Go! Go find Nora! Immediately!!" Jaune commanded, practically slamming into Ren in his excitement.

"I- what?" Ren caught himself on the bedpost.

"Now! As your leader, I'm ordering you to find Nora and tell her what you just told me, but uh, make it make sense in context!"

"But-"

"Ren, my teammate, my best friend, my brother from another mother-"

"You can stop."

"You have to go talk to Nora. Making out is optional but advised."

Ren opened his mouth to respond but stopped himself to consider the potential outcomes. There was no real way anything could get worse if he formally confessed his feelings to Nora. He knew she'd reciprocate, but then again, what if she got angrier with him for trying to confess in such a short time since her attempt?

Nora was pretty scary when she was upset, and he really loathed the notion of being on the receiving end. Ren almost argued Jaune's idea, but in the end, he sighed, resigning himself to whatever fate would see happen.

This way there was at least a chance of a positive outcome. Giving up on this completely possessed no similar chance. Besides, there was no way Nora would have completely given up on something so important, right?

**_Sunday, 7:28 am_**

"What do you mean you're giving up?" Yang dropped her dumbbell, absolutely shocked by Nora's words.

"_I mean_ I'm giving up." Nora looked down at her sneakers. It wasn't like she wanted to, but this was really her only option now, wasn't it?

Pyrrha and Yang shared a very concerned glance before the former crossed the weight room and put her hand on Nora's back. "You can't just give up on something like this-"

"But I was right!" Nora scoffed, flopping backwards onto the floor. "I was worried for _YEARS_ about us not being friends because of this stupid crush! I thought it'd tear us apart! And guess what happened!"

Pyrrha felt a pang of sadness, knowing that Nora's feelings ran much deeper than a 'stupid crush'. "Nora-"

"I'm done. I don't even care if he thinks we were already dating, because clearly neither of us is making any more moves!" She spread out her limbs emphatically.

"I don't want to be a meanie and push him to be more if he doesn't want to be; that's just not right! And when you can't make any moves, you quit the game. So I'm done!"

Pyrrha frowned. It took everything in her not to burst and tell Nora that Ren wanted the same kind of relationship "upgrade" that she did, but did she really want to betray Ren like that?

She knew in the long run that the current uncertainty between the pair wouldn't matter, but she could so easily get it over with now… at the potential cost of Ren's trust… but this would be doing him a favor, wouldn't it?

Would she want Ren to tell Jaune how she felt if Ren knew he felt the same? Yes and no? No matter what she did, Pyrrha knew she'd end up feeling guilty either way.

Fortunately, Yang walked over and sat on the floor next to the melodramatic girl, breaking the silence. "What if you _did_ make a move?"

"What do you mean?" Nora asked as Pyrrha gingerly sat across from Yang.

"You did say 'if' he doesn't want to be more affectionate. It isn't a definite. Think to yourself how much you love and care about Ren, walk on up to him and work up the nerve to just blurt out the way you feel, and you guys can talk from there." Yang smiled a little, and Nora smiled too, wistfully imagining the scene.

Yang grinned, "And if that doesn't work, use that built up nerve to _slam_ that boy against a wall and kiss him until you pass out from lack of air."

Nora sat bolt upright, "Yang!"

"It's a solid back up plan!"

Pyrrha sighed, ignoring her work out partners going back and forth in favor of checking the clock. 7: 32. Ren would be awake by now, wouldn't he? And when Ren got up, he always made breakfast. The gears in her head started turning. If the pair was simply forced to be in close proximity, _alone_, for a moment, then they'd really have no less awkward of a choice than to talk to each other. And if they spoke for a bit, then maybe…

"Nora," Pyrrha interrupted the two's little quarrel, "Did you eat before we left?"

"No, why?"

Pyrrha made a face, trying to hide a look of victory, "Maybe you should go get something. If your plan is to hide out here all day, you'll need to eat now so you don't collapse later from so much exercise."

Nora considered this, "I guess I am kinda hungry. Okay, sure. You coming?" She stood up and brushed off her shorts.

"No, no," Pyrrha waved, "I ate before we left," She lied.

Yang glanced over at Pyrrha and smiled mischievously. "Same here."

Nora nodded, grabbing her water bottle and her scroll, "Okie dokie, then. I'll be back in a bit."

The second she was gone, Yang clapped Pyrrha on the back and smiled cheerfully, "How does it feel to be a liar?"

* * *

**Author's Note: Right, so, I had an ending planned in November when I started seriously writing this. And then I took a break from writing because Volume 7 was really stressing me out, and by the time I wanted to start writing again, Volume 7 had already far surpassed any ending I'd come up with. Of course, Volume 7's tone when it came to Renora was MUCH angstier than this story is ever going to be. I wasn't ever really comparing the two, it just felt like "this ending isn't as good as what I'd personally like to read after that angst-trip" because I wanted some hard core comedy fluff after all that. So I scrapped the entire last 3 chapters and… did absolutely nothing. Until this afternoon when I finally decided to ask for some help brainstorming ideas. I have the entire new ending planned, and part of the next chapter is already started.****Shout out to my awesome friend Vel, who I know is reading this literally as soon as it gets posted. I may have made the taco, but he definitely made the shell. And also thank you to Izzy, who provided emotional support while I chopped the lettuce. Ily guys.**


	9. What A Nice Countertop

**Author's Note: It's weird knowing that my longest fanfic ever is finished? I've just finished Chapter 10 at the time I'm writing this, and I have an epilogue planned for after that, but aside from the epilogue it's over? It's just strange to think that I'm finally finishing something I started in November. Oh well. I did actually just decide what I'm going to start writing for my next long Renora fic, but I'll wait until the outline for it is done to say anything else on that.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: What A Nice Countertop**

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:40 am_**

He left the dorm room while tying off his ponytail with uncommonly shaky hands, immediately clasping his hands behind his back afterward. Though none of his ways of expressing his feelings were _obvious_ by any means, it would have been easy for anyone who knew him to see that he was deep in thought. Rather distressed thought, judging by how his brow was furrowed at the hardwood floor. His current emanation was the Ren equivalent of Nora nervously fishing for words and clumsily dropping items.

The sound of ceramic shattering caught his attention. "Ahck- damnit!"

He paused in his anxious stride to turn back towards the kitchen. "Nora?" he asked as he poked his head through the doorway.

Popping her head up from her position on the floor like a deer in the headlights, she went paler than normal. "Oh, _hey_ Ren." she said, each word emphasized much longer than necessary.

It was fairly easy to tell what had happened simply by a scan of the room. A barstool was overturned against the counter just in front of the shelf holding plates, with half sat on the floor Nora beneath it… and the remains of what _used_ to be a plate littered around her leg.

He sighed. Never a dull moment. "Are you alright?" he asked, mincing around the plate's dismembered corpse to offer her his hand.

Blushing furiously- out of embarrassment or, well, the _reason_ he'd gone to find her, he couldn't tell- she took it and rose, letting him pull her over towards the island as opposed to the broken dinnerware.

"I'm fi-Ah!" Trying to set her foot down, she ended up stumbling backwards and probably would have hit the counter if not for his catching her by the waist and her grasping onto his shoulders.

They stood like that for a minute, both staring wide-eyed at the other, with the room dead silent except for the sound of heavy breathing.

* * *

**_Sunday, 7: 35 am_**

"How does it feel to be a liar?"

Pyrrha groaned, "I just hate seeing them so upset." She stood up, putting her scroll in her pocket.

"Going back to the dorm?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha nodded, "Yes, but we should stagger it a little. Wouldn't want to catch up to her."

Yang stretched her arms high above her and yawned, "But anyway, yeah, I think we all do. But hopefully they'll make up when they run into each other."

Pyrrha let out a small laugh, "Don't you mean 'make out'?"

The blonde shrugged, "Honestly, at this point I dunno."

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:44 am_**

Clearing his throat, Ren pulled back and averted his gaze to the island beside them. Nora dusted herself off and laughed, "Heh, thanks for the um, save."

"Anytime." _What a nice countertop_.

She rubbed the back of her head, "Um, we, well, I, should probably clean up the uh, plate." Nora brushed past him towards the closet.

"I can help," he said, voice strained.

"That- that's okay." She said, retrieving the dustpan and tiny broom.

"No, really, I can-"

"It's fine, you don't have to-"

They both stopped and stared at each other for a few fleeting seconds. "Nora?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still angry?"

She bunched up, "Not really." She said, voice small as she set down the cleaning supplies on the marble. "If you don't really want to do 'more', we- we don't have to."

Ren shoved his hands in his pockets, "I really wouldn't… mind being 'more'."

She sighed sadly, "I figured, I'm not going to force-" She shot up like a rocket, "Wait, really?"

Part of him wanted to sarcastically comment on how he'd now answered this question four times, but the bigger part just smiled awkwardly and said, "To be quite honest, I'd like it a lot. I just… I dunno."

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:40 am_**

"I just don't understand; What do you mean you don't know?" Pyrrha tilted her head, still unsure about Yang's explanation.

"Well…" Yang shrugged. "It's not like her bumping into Ren is going to solve this entire thing. If anything, they're just gonna start arguing again."

"You really think so?" Pyrrha asked, a worried lilt to her normally chipper voice.This morning was really not going well, and she'd just woken less than 2 hours ago.


	10. That Was, Indeed, A Thing

**Author's Note: Holy crap… The entire main story is done? I'm going to add in an epilogue soon so it's not technically done, but the story itself is complete and I'm super stoked about that. It means I can busy myself for another few (hopefully less than 6) months with a new idea that's been bouncing around in my head. Plus, now I can rest easy knowing you all have a conclusion to this. Well… thank you for reading? I dunno what to do honestly, I've never finished this kind of story before.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: That Was, Indeed, A Thing**

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:46 am_**

Anyone familiar with video games is aware of the anxiety ridden moments when your low level character enters a harmless dungeon and you suddenly hear the boss music start, all while the only entrance closes behind you.

It's a moment of extreme surprise, even terror, where you have no choice but to progress despite knowing you have a very small chance of living through the encounter.

Said scenario was exactly how Lie Ren saw verbal confrontation, discussions about, ugh, _feelings_, and… well… socialization in general. Often he'd recognize the boss fight when it was coming and simply turn around before he entered the room.

On that note, he actually wouldn't even allow himself to enter the dungeon half the time.

Nora was much better at fighting her way through a dungeon, in fact, she found it enjoyable. Ren had learned early on that his life was a lot less scary if he just let Nora go through the dungeon while he followed her from a distance.

"What the hell, Ren?!"

But he couldn't really _do that right now_, and he was rather bitter about it.

"What do you mean 'What the hell, Ren"?!" He asked indignantly, stumbling over his words.

"If you already felt like this, why didn't you say so!?" Gesticulating wildly, she accused him more than asked him.

He marveled at the fact that they'd flipped between about four different emotions in the last 40 seconds. And it looked like "Indignation" and "Anger" were joining that list. This was not a fun fact by any means, quite the contrary, he sincerely loathed it, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Unfortunate, but impressive.

Even more unfortunately for the poor introvert, he'd just entered _the_ boss battle of the game. This wasn't the usual frost troll. This wasn't even a silightly more rare dead-dragon-worshipping-zombie-priest. There was confrontation _and_ feelings _and_ Nora was _most certainly _not backing him on this. This was Big Scary Dragon About To Eat The Entire Planet levels of conversation.

"Last I checked, you weren't exactly _rushing_ to say anything either." He crossed his arms.

She stuttered, "I just don't understand why we've been tap dancing around this for so long if we both felt the exact same way!"

He exhaled impatiently, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's not like I _knew_ how you felt, considering how hard you tried to hide it!"

"I _hid it_ because I didn't know how _you_ felt!"

"Shouldn't we just be _happy_ that these feelings are mutual?" he asked, narrowing his eyes and shifting his stance to a more defensive one.

She groaned and exasperatedly pounded her fists against her thighs. It was a position akin to a toddler having a tantrum. "Well, right now I'm mad so I'm going to deal with those feelings first! One thing at time!!"

"You _just_ said you weren't really angry-"

"I KNOW WHAT I _SAID_, REN." She threw her arms into the air, "But you know that PAST ME IS FULL OF _SHIT_!"

"Maybe we should just calm down!" In his mind that didn't come out like a yell, but it didn't really matter; Neither half of the pair was too keen on "calming down" anyway.

"I have been in LOVE WITH YOU for _YEARS_, REN. IT'S A LITTLE _DIFFICULT_ TO CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW!" She laughed, the same sardonic one with an edge from yesterday morning.

"I've ALSO been in love with you for years, Nora! I REALIZE THAT!"

"WHY ARE WE YELLING?"

"YOU THINK I KNOW?"

They stopped and stared at each other a moment, glaring into each other's eyes.

"UGH!" she kicked the base of the counter and crossed her arms, "I'm so DONE!" She smacked her head against the wall and sank to the floor in a small ball of frustration, angry at herself for, er, being angry. "I'm done with love and anger- and everything else!"

She was always more emotionally intelligent than "booksmart", and had always been pretty empathetic. As such, the ginger was normally pretty skilled at deciphering her own emotions and finding ways to express and deal with them. She didn't exactly pride herself on this, but it was still a constant ability. Unfortunately for her, there were a _lot_ of said emotions going on and she was having trouble running through them.

"Same." he sighed, sinking as well. He felt the energy drain from him. "Any situation where I have to discuss feelings is never an ideal one. Even in writing, apparently." he scoffed, annoyed more at himself than her.

"What do you mean 'in writing'?" she asked, looking up from her knees to lock eyes with him.

"Jaune had me try to write a love letter." he smirked, "Emphasis on _try_."

Nora smiled a little, breathing a laugh, "That's actually pretty sweet."

"I literally couldn't list more than two things I love about you."

She shot him a vaguely insulted expression. "Slightly less sweet?"

"I mean," he smiled a little, "Not because I couldn't think of anything. I'm just bad at verbalizing it."

"Understandable." Her smile got wider and she sighed, crawling over and sitting next to him. She leaned on his shoulder, and he rested his head against hers. "We're both idiots, aren't we?"

"When it comes to this stuff? Absolutely."

She nodded good naturedly, "I meant it, ya know. Past me? Full of shit."

He laughed, "Can't be that bad.."

"Past me should have said 'I love you' instead... Maybe not early on, but definitely at initiation." she said wistfully.

"Instead of what?"

The deer in the headlights look was back as her wide-eyed gaze became stuck on the light fixtures. "I think that's um… a story for another time. I promise I'll tell you but I dunno if I can handle 'embarrassment' being added to the emotions roster."

He smirked, "I'm about ready to tear the roster in half. It's weird having so many different parts of my brain yelling at me." She relaxed against him, wrapping an arm around him in a weird half hug, which he returned before she propped herself up so she could look up into his eyes with a soft smile.

"That could be the title of my autobiography, honestly." She giggled, face inches from his, "I really do love you."

"I figured that out somewhere along the line," he grinned. For once, he wasn't trying to force himself to maintain his stoic exterior while Nora was this close. Sure of what was happening, finally having a (small and loose) handle on all the things he was feeling…

...And then he made the mistake of glancing at her lips and his grin faltered.

On her side, the butterflies in her stomach were flapping hard enough to cause a hurricane. Her face burned as she realized just where this was going. Electric blue eyes were fixated on Ren's magenta, holding each other's gaze with a knowing yet hesitant stare. It was simply a matter of time until one of them had to lean in.

"If you want to stop," she said, voice hardly more than a whisper due to how little she felt she was breathing, "you should really tell me no- OOMPH-!"

Nora was honestly relieved they were on the floor, because her knees would have given out the second he pressed his lips against hers. He was slow, gentle.

That hadn't ever really been _her_ vibe, however. She grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt and yanked him closer. His arms circled her, pulling her in even tighter, until there was practically no space left between them. Where both of their brains were waterlogged with thoughts beforehand, every last one of them had floated away. The only thing that existed in this moment was the two of them.

The kiss wasn't perfect by romance novel standards, of course; Neither of them had ever done this before. But by their standards, it was just about perfect.

It was wonderful, and new, and fun, and calming, yet it was exciting, and it was amazing and a million other things and it was _everything_ because 'perfect' didn't do this feeling any justice.

* * *

**_Sunday, 7:54 am_**

"Look, there's no point in being worried now," Yang said as they left the elevator, "They're probably going to go back to being friends by Wednesday."

"I don't think they'd ever cut each other off entirely, but I really thought bumping into each other in the kitchen would be enough to get them talking." Pyrrha said forlornly.

"And probably yelling."

Pyrrha hung her head, "I genuinely thought they'd get together."

"Someday," Yang smiled as they neared the kitchen. "I don't hear them. They're probably back in the dorm by now."

"In that case, would you like to get something?"

"Always, Pyrrha. Always. We should probably also grab some ice cream or something for Nora."

"You really think it'll be _that_ bad?" The redhead looked mortified.

Yang shook her head, hair falling over her shoulder. "No, but I know for a fact there's no way they've gotten together after this morning."

There are limited things one can expect when they enter a kitchen. Perhaps the pleasant aroma of someone cooking a nice breakfast. Maybe a team enjoying a nice meal together, being loud and cracking obnoxious jokes. An occasional instance of "too many cookies" being made, leading to what was essentially free food for a lucky passerby.

One generally doesn't expect to find their friends canoodling on the floor next to an overturned barstool and a broken plate.

Pyrrha froze in shock, and while Yang looked momentarily miffed at the universe deciding to prove her wrong yet again, she quickly adopted a cheshire grin.

"You didn't _actually_ have to slam him against a wall, Nora."

The pair jumped like startled alley cats (Nora even shrieked like one), pushing away from each other and slowly looking over at a very stunned Pyrrha and an even more smug Yang. Pyrrha, once recovered, immediately beamed and went to go find Jaune to tell him the news. Yang, once she'd recovered a sandwich, left for similar reasons, except hers was specifically to go find Weiss and gloat about what seemed to be the absence of a "formal agreement".

* * *

**_Sunday, 8:00 am_**

After what seemed like ages of sitting frozen in their places, Nora finally turned back to Ren with a shaky breath and a nervous smile. "That was a thing."

"That was, indeed, a thing." He agreed. "Lots of things did just occur."

"So…" she started, "Does this mean we're…" she asked hopefully, "Together-together?"

"I hope so," Ren said, relieved, "I don't really know what else would, at this point."

"You know how we should celebrate?" She gave him a familiar hopeful look.

He sighed and ruffled her hair as they stood up. "I'll start making batter while you clean up the plate."


End file.
